Knitting machine



- July 18, 1939'. VERBEEQ 2,166,851

KNITTING MACHINE Filed Sept. 22, 1937 Invenio Witness figj??? 2/ f I ICVM t Patented July 18, 1939 UNITED STATES 2,166,851 KNITTING momma.

Arnold Friedrich Verbeelr, Wustenbrand, Germany, assignor to Kalio,Inc., New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application September22, 1937, Serial No. 165,115

In Germany October 16, 1936 6 Claims.

The present invention relates to a lighting system for flatfull-fashioned knitting machines.

In machines of this general description now in use, it has been foundiflicult with the usual overhead lighting to pr ide an adequateillumination of the knittinginstrumen'talities and their associated loopforming elements which will cause these elements to stand out sharplyfrom one another to assist the operator in the performance of variousmanual operations such as the setting up and turning ofthe welt with theusual welt rake, and in the finding and correcting of faults in thealignment and operation of these elements. Where in accordance with theusual practice, it relatively powerful lights are provided above theentire machine, the shadows cast by intervening mechanisms and thereflected light from other machine parts, tend to blur these elements,so that the operator has difficulty in distinguishing one from theother. t

It is a principal object of the present invention to provide a novel andimproved lighting system which will enable light to be'directed onto theneedle series and their cooperating knitting elements in such a manneras-to throw these parts into sharp relief, so that the operatormaywithout dimculty see these'elements'in their minutest detailaand isenabled by virtue of the relation of light and shade thereon, to detectthe slightest variations in alignment or register of the manycooperating elements.

With these and other objects in view as may hereinafter appear, aprincipal-feature of themvention consists in the provision of sources oflight located directly above and in close proximity to the needles, andarranged to direct the light downwardly in such a manner as to provide asubstantially even illumination the length of the needles series, and toproduce a relationship of light and shadow on and between the individualelements to render these separately and individually distinguishable tothe eye of the operator.

The several features of the invention consist also in the devices,combinations and arrangement of parts hereinafter described and claimed,which together with the advantages to be obtained thereby, will bereadily understood by one skilled in the art from the followingdescription taken in connection with the accompanying drawin in whichthe single figure is, a view in front elevation of a portion of a flatfull-fashioned knitting machine of ordinary description, only so much ofthe machine being shown as is believed necessary to illustrate theconnection of the present invention therewith.

In the drawing which discloses one full section of a multiple sectionfull fashioned machine, and portions of the adjacent sections on eachside thereof, the needle bars are showngeneral 1y at l. The location ofthe usual knitting instrumentalities on the machine including sinkers,knockers and needles movable with relation to the usual press edge,follows the usual arrangement in these machines, and while not shown,will be readily understood by one skilled in the m art from the positionof. the needle bars 1 and the I sinker supporting rail ll illustrated inthe drawing. The machine is further provided with the usual narrowingmachine frame including the vertically movable shaft 2 having supported16 thereon the usual narrowing pointbars 3 and l slidably mounted independing brackets 5 and 6 secured to the narrowing machine shaft 2. Asillustrated in the drawing, one of these brackets 5 or 6 is locatedbetween each two adjacent 2o knitting sections of the machine.

in carrying out the present invention, a light bracket I is secured toeach of the brackets 5 or 6 having mounted thereon two low power lamps 8and reflectors 9 which serve to direct light beams in a substantiallyvertical plane downwardly onto and along each needle series as indicatedin dotted lines in the drawing. The arrangement of the two lights 8 andreflectors 9 associated with each section, is such' as to cast anarrowbeam of light onto the needles which is not interrupted by anyintervening parts of the I machine, and avoids any interference with thedesired relation of light and shadow on the needles which might becaused by the reflection of light from other machine parts.

In addition to the advantages of direct and unobstructed illumination ofthe needles and associated parts obtained by mounting light sources onthe narrowing frame directly overthe needies as above described, afurther advantage is secured which consists in the creation of a sharplydefined pattern of light and shadow by means of which each individualelement is thrown into sharp relief. Any imperfections or misalignmentof the needles or their cooperating knitting elements will operate todistort the otherwise regular pattern of light and shadow, and will thusthrough easily visible means, attract the attention of and'assist theoperator in eliminating the trouble.

It will be understood that the invention is not limited to the specificembodiment shown, and that various deviations may be made therefromwithout departing from the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a flat full-fashioned knitting machine having knitting devicesincluding a needle series, and certain machine parts including anarrowing frame located substantially over the needles, an electriclighting system which comprises supporting means on the machine, a lightsource supported thereon above the needles in close proximity theretoand substantially in a vertical plane passing through the needleseriesto provide a direct evenly distributed illumination of the needle seriesunobstructed by said certain parts.

2. In a flat full-fashioned knitting machine having knitting devicesincluding a needle series. and certain machine parts including anarrowing frame located substantially over the needles, an electriclighting system which comprises supporting means on the machine, a lightsource supported thereon above the needles in close proximity theretoand substantially in a vertical plane passing through the needle seriesto provide a direct illumination of the needle series, and means fordirecting the light from said source to secure a sharply definedrelation of light and shadow between'the individual needles unobstructedby saidcertain parts.

3. In a 11st full-fashioned knitting machine having knitting devicesincluding a needle series.

and .a narrowing frame, an electric lighting system which compriseslight sources of small intensity located on the narrowing frame betweenknitting sections in close proximity to and substantially in a verticalplane passing through the needle series, and means associated with eachof said light sources 1hr directingthe light onto the needle series tosecure a sharply defined relation of light and shadow between theindividual needles.

4. In a flat full-fashioned knitting machine having knitting devicesincluding a needle series and a narrowing frame, a lighting system whichcomprises small electric lamps of low light intensitylocated on thenarrowing frame at each .end of a knitting section above the needles-andin close proximity thereto substantially in a vertical plane passingthrough the needle series to provide a direct illumination of theneedles, and

' a reflector associated with each of said lamps from said sources ontothe needles to secure a sharply defined relation of light and shadowbetween the individual needles.

6. In a flat full-fashioned multiple section knitting machine havingknitting devices including a needle series for each section, and certainmachine parts including a narrowing frame 10- catedsubstantially abovethe needles, a lighting system which comprises supporting means on themachine, light sources associated with each section supported thereonabove the needles in close proximity thereto'and substantially in avertical plane passing through the needle series to provide a directillumination of the needle series unobstructed by said certain machineparts.

ARNOLD mrsonrcn vnruassx.

